Programming teacher Lindsay Roberts wasn’t always set to enter the field of teaching and computer science. Coming out of high school, the now fifth-year teacher decided she wanted to major in mathematics, as she enjoyed it and the subject came naturally to her. When she first declared a major, however, her dad told her that a “major in just math wasn’t a viable option,” Roberts said.

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Robert said it was her dad who suggested that she consider computer science because it was a growing field with lots of job opportunities. Roberts decided to add computer science to her major in addition to mathematics. With already a strong background in math, the transition to computer science was seamless for Roberts. It didn’t take long before she took a strong liking to the major and the classes it offered, and even grew to “like those classes more than my math classes,” Robert said. 

However, Roberts wasn’t always set on becoming a teacher. The lucrativity of the computer science field comes from jobs in Silicon Valley and jobs with big tech companies like Google and Apple. After graduating college with a math and computer science degree, Roberts initially had a job of this sort. Out of college, she did “property management for a data center development company that holds the servers for big tech companies,” Roberts said. 

Although Roberts had a good job, something was missing. She said she wasn’t feeling any fulfillment from her job, something that she once felt in college. While in college, Roberts said she “tutored people and the feeling of someone being ‘I don’t get it this is stupid’ to then explaining it to them thinking ‘this is actually really cool’ is a good feeling.”

So, Roberts decided to leave her job at the data center development company and in 2017 she joined the tech department here. She now teaches two different classes, Programming 1 and AP Programming 2, across five periods, her favorite of the pair being AP Programming 2. Roberts’ favorite part of teaching is “seeing people go from not understanding something to getting it and being ‘wow this is cool,’” she said. 

Students, including junior Aarnav Tare, appreciate Roberts encouragement to ask questions and her indepth teaching style. “Whenever I have a question, Ms. Roberts always goes into a lot of detail and makes sure I understand the answers,” Tare said.

Other students, such as junior Luke Danelian, appreciate the feedback Roberts gives on assignments. “She gives good feedback on assignments that are always helpful and easy to learn from,” Mandhan said.

Alongside being a teacher, Roberts has other responsibilities at school icluding being the interim poms coach, JV softball coach, one of the extracurricular activities director, and monitoring after-school study hall. In her free time, Roberts said she “enjoys going to the gym and watching dumb shows on Netflix.”